Traffic is increasing in Montlake. We experience gridlock and cut-through traffic routinely. The SR 520 project is adding pressure on the neighborhood at a rate unplanned for by SDOT and WSDOT. Various projects need to happen in order to mitigate the effect.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has funded some of these efforts through Vision Zero Project. Additionally, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has given SDOT $250,000 for traffic calming work outlined in the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan.

A few of the changes will be done before the next Phase of SR 520 begins in late 2018/early 2019. The Montlake Community Club has requested additional projects, however, at this time SDOT is unable to fund them.

This is a report of projects completed, underway or under discussion. We will also address the 23rd Avenue East Vision Zero project and the SR520 project in future articles.

Regarding public transportation, the 23rd Avenue Corridor is one of seven planned RapidRide lines in the City. The RapidRide Expansion Program is a partnership between the City of Seattle and Metro Transit to deliver convenient, high-quality public transportation options. It was originally scheduled for opening in 2024, but currently, no funding exists for this project. It is hard to understand the lack of funding when the #25 was discontinued and service of the #43 has been drastically reduced. Even with Light Rail, our community is underserved with transit options.

It is critical that all Montlake residents influence these projects. Please continue to put pressure on SDOT and ask them to fund all of the requested projects (email SDOT). When emailing SDOT please put “Montlake Traffic Calming Measures” in the subject line. You are encouraged to use the City of Seattle “Find IT, FIX IT” app (www.seattle.gov/customer-service-bureau/find-it-fix-it-mobile-app) to post any request you think should be addressed. That includes the items listed above. WSDOT, SDOT and the City of Seattle need to hear from each of us if we expect anything to be done.

If you want to learn more or get involved, reach out to the MCC, join the transportation committee, or attend one of our monthly meetings. Meetings take place at the Boyer Children’s clinic on the second Tuesday of each month (September-June) at 7:00 pm. We have made great progress, but it requires continued community involvement.

Thank you to everyone who has advocated for our marvelous, historic and lovely neighborhood.

Design consultants are now sharing their final report on Montlake’s business district as the city-funded planning grant draws to a close. Business owners and Montlake Community Club project leaders gathered April 12 at Glam & Tonics Aveda Salon to receive the report and talk one more time with Paul Fuesel and Liz Gibson of Studio KPG. They viewed, commented and praised the report’s drawings, photos, and explanatory text illuminating a conceptual plan for Montlake’s “downtown.” The plan aims to create a distinctive identity, revitalize the 24th Avenue business district, and calm the street for accessibility and safety. With an eye toward both functional and aesthetic goals, the proposed plan from KPG includes street and sidewalk reconfiguration, traffic signals, wayfinding signage, plantings, public art, and amenities. (You can view/download a copy of the final report here.)

Now that the Montlake Business District conceptual design has been created, it will become one of several tools that SDOT traffic planners and engineers can use as they continue with the 23rd/24th Avenue Traffic Corridor Improvement Project construction. Montlake is part of that project’s Phase 3. The plan will also provide input to the City’s Vision Zero efforts to increase driver, pedestrian and cyclist safety on Seattle streets. MCC project leaders also hope that it will give an encouraging boost to the Montlake business district building owners to do their part in making upgrades to their properties as well.

Kathy Laughman (MCC board member) and Liz Gibson

MCC Project leaders, Kathy Laughman and Bryan Haworth, soon will be submitting a follow-up grant proposal to the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods to follow through on parts of the conceptual design that are within neighborhood control, especially the public arts and beautification aspects. You’ll be hearing more about this follow-up effort over the next few months.

Of course there are still unanswered questions about Montlake’s business district future. Some were voiced by the business owners as they reviewed the conceptual plan from KPG and generally gave it praise. Questions focused not so much on the design itself, but on procedures, for example: What is SDOT’s timeline for any decisions and implementation of Vision Zero improvements and Phase 3 of the Traffic Corridor Improvement Project? How long will construction through Montlake last, once it’s begun? And, what kind of mitigation/support will be given to the businesses and residents (including the Montlake Blvd Market) as all of the work impacts them, including the seemingly endless Hwy 520 project? Finally, how can the Montlake community continue to have a positive effect on the decisions and actions taken by the City and State toward shaping our future as a livable, friendly, safe, and beautiful neighborhood? We can be pretty sure that nothing will happen in a hurry. We can also be quite sure that something will happen—eventually.

Montlakers were once again drawn in for an update from Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). This time the event (Wed, March 22) featured posters with “explainers” and a presentation/Q&A format. Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Metro/King County representatives were also on hand with information. Present too, were consultants from KPG explaining the Montlake Business District Improvement Plan, an effort led by the Montlake Community Club. Whew! A little confusing with all those presenters! Unfortunately, a query about the future of the Montlake Blvd Market and gas station brought a response that “The matter was under negotiation, so could not be addressed at this time.” BUT there is reason for optimism, because Montlake finally appears to be getting a coordinated response to its traffic concerns.

This Update includes a look, not just at what is happening on SR 520 as reconstruction gets to Montlake, but also a first look at WSDOT & SDOT’s combined ideas for “potential local street measures” right here in Montlake. (Chapter 4 Potential Local Street Measures, pp 24-31).

We are encouraged by this evidence that WSDOT has been listening to us, and has actually been working with the City of Seattle Department of Transportation to respond to the traffic problems we’ve all been telling them about. This could mean genuine mitigation, folks! Please check out the report.

Be sure to leave your comments below once you’ve read the report.

**The SR 520 Montlake Phase includes the construction of the West Approach Bridge South, Montlake lid and interchange, and a bicycle and pedestrian land bridge. Construction of the Montlake Phase is expected to begin in 2018.

There is another important process & deadline upon us this week with regards to the Montlake Phase of SR 520 Construction. WSDOT has applied for a Noise Variance during construction (click to review application) and they will be holding the only public meeting this Thursday, April 6th. You may read the bulletin here: http://web6.seattle.gov/DPD/ LUIB/Notice.aspx?BID=1222&NID= 24653

Many neighbors are concerned about this and are opposing any noise variance allowing for construction prior to 8 AM and later than 7 PM Monday through Friday.

Please take advantage of the public comment period which ends Thursday, April 6th Thursday, April 20th by sending an email with your comments concerning construction noise and hours of operations here:

Traffic Calming is being explored for Montlake, and not just for our main street—24th Ave East. It’s equally important for safety and livability on all the streets of our neighborhood.

Developed in Europe in the 70’s, traffic calming is a system of street design strategies aimed to balance movement of traffic with other human interests, like walking, playing, shopping, working—you know, life. Over the years, a number of calming measures have been added to our neighborhood side streets. When you take a walk around Montlake, you can find traffic circles, speed bumps and cushions, pedestrian-controlled crossing lights, marked crosswalks, roadway striping and painting, curb bulbs and good old signage. In other Seattle neighborhoods you can also see chicanes, raised crosswalks, textured “rumble strips,” diverters, and chokers. Some have calmed traffic; some, not so much.

Now to Montlake comes even more traffic on 24th Ave E. and seemingly endless Hwy. 520 construction. We’re feeling spill-over headaches as impatient drivers look for shortcuts and faster routes along our residential streets. It sure seems like we need more of the traffic calming methods in additional locations. Jim Curtin, SDOT’s Senior Traffic Planner & leader of Seattle’s Vision Zero road safety initiative knows the whole traffic calming toolbox—and he’s not afraid to use those tools if doing so makes life safer and more pleasant on our streets—all our streets.

At the November MCC Board Meeting, Curtin explained that SDOT is still evaluating “a slew of options” for the 23rd /24th Traffic Corridor Improvement Project Phase 3. He stressed that entire “neighborhood traffic calming is a priority, no matter what design is ultimately selected” for 24th Ave E. The other day, he reiterated this whole-neighborhood concern after reviewing reader responses to the November 23, 2016 Flyer article. All along, Jim has also said that for the best solutions to be found, SDOT planners need to learn from the community about specific problems in particular locations. Your observations and experiences can then be crafted into accounts to share with SDOT decision makers. Bottom line: The better SDOT’s understanding of particulars, the more likely their fixes will work for us.

So, Montlakers, let’s do our part. We can start by naming specific neighborhood locations and the particular traffic problems observed and experienced there. Write these in the comment section following this article or send them to the Montlake Community Club Board (Board@montlake.net). Montlake Community meetings on Phase 3 will also be coming up in early 2017. Attend those meetings to be informed and to offer your specifics and particulars there. Let’s give SDOT the information they need to provide us with workable traffic calming solutions to our Montlake street safety and livability issues.

Want to know more about Traffic Calming? Here are some online resources:

As leader of Seattle’s Vision Zero road safety initiative, Senior Traffic Planner Jim Curtin has a lot to say about how to make 24th Avenue in Montlake’s Business District safe for pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles. At the November MCC Board meeting, he and those present discussed “right sizing” as part of the SDOT plans for Aloha Street to SR520 –Phase 3 of the 23rd Ave Traffic Corridor Improvement Project.Curtin, MCC Board members, and concerned community members offered information, raised questions, and shared concerns. An hour passed quickly with upbeat, civil discussion about what may result when Phase 3 of the traffic safety project reaches Montlake.

“Right sizing,” Jim Curtin explained, is shaping streets not just to efficiently move vehicles and bicycles, but also:
* to save lives;
* reduce collisions;
* improve pedestrian mobility along and across streets;
* and raise awareness about the neighborhoods and businesses.

Right sizing can mean altering the number of lanes devoted to moving vehicles forward, and changing some lanes into turn lanes, or into transit only lanes. It can mean adding stop lights, reducing right turns on red lights, reducing speed limits, and/or installing traffic calming measures of various kinds. Choosing from all these methods of moving vehicle traffic while keeping everyone safe is just what professionals like Jim Curtin are tasked with doing on our behalf.

It’s fantastic, but no surprise, that these methods and outcomes mesh with the design being created through the Montlake Business District Development Project. Jim Curtin was at the table representing SDOT when your Montlake Community Club planning team first met with Seattle Department of Neighborhoods representatives back in May. Even at that City Hall session, he was enthusiastically seconding the ideas the MCC planning team and consultants were expressing about our main street.

Jim Curtin has led a wide range of transportation projects for municipalities in Washington State over the past 15 years. He created SDOT’s Safe Routes to School program, and headed up the Aurora Traffic Safety Project that reduced serious and fatal collisions by 28 percent. Public education and engagement were critical to the success of those projects, says Jim, and they are standard elements in his Vision Zero approach. That’s welcome news here in Montlake, where we’ve often felt engaged in a token manner as City and State projects pushed through our neighborhood.

You can expect to be talking with Jim Curtin in a Montlake Community meeting in the not too distant future—as Phase three of the Corridor Project becomes a reality.

WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) is having a 520 West Approach Bridge North construction update on Wednesday, Oct 5th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at the Graham Visitors Center in the Arboretum.

The WSDOT project team for the “Montlake Phase” will provide a short presentation with key project updates. Attendees will be also able to share thoughts regarding this next phase of SR 520 construction.

This is an opportunity to let them know how we feel about the proposed taking of the Montlake Boulevard Market and the gas station so please try to attend this important meeting.

Your personal story about why the Montlake Boulevard Market is important

The addition of a staging area at one of the city’s busiest intersections undergoing a massive rebuild doesn’t make sense; it would simply make traffic jams worse and make commuting harder

Montlake has a low walk score and this takes away a critical resource that is loved in this neighborhood

A visually attractive & safe intersection, even during the construction phase, is needed as this is a key gateway to the city

WSDOT announced its decision without any advanced warning

The city needs to manage planning for the entire area and validate WSDOT decisions; there is a need to coordinate work done by several transport agencies and the UW. The city has perspective and can see the 520 work in its larger context. We encourage a stronger role for the city over the next 12 years of construction and during the creation of the Design-Build contract.

Several Montlake residents attended the Seattle Design Commission (SDC) meeting on Thursday, July 7th to listen and comment on WSDOT’s plans for construction of the SR 520 Rest of the West Project. Those attending were Jon Decker, Kathy Laughman, John O’Neil, Lionel Job and Barbara Wright.

The meeting agenda called for WSDOT to discuss its Request for Proposals (RFP) process and the role that the Commission will have in that process.

The commissioners asked for clarification on several points made by WSDOT. Among them were:

How does WSDOT plan to have transparency in the design process and finality of design decisions if it plans to utilize a design-build method in this phase of the construction?

What process does WSDOT have for mitigating environmental and quality of live concerns the residents in the surrounding area will have during the duration of construction, especially since the construction will take 11 – 12 years to complete?

Barbara Wright and Lionel Job, chosen earlier to speak for the group, expressed their concerns about WSDOT not being open and not honestly taking the community needs into consideration. Lionel mentioned the example of discovering on the day of the June 28th WSDOT Open House that there was a plan to demolish the Montlake Blvd Market and the 76 Station to make way for a construction staging area.

The intersection of SR 520, Montlake Blvd. and Montlake Place is the second busiest intersection in the city. Barbara & Lionel asked the Seattle Design Commission to consider this fact and how this constant traffic and the planned construction will impact the surrounding communities. They hoped the Commission would urge the City to take an active and transparent role in working with WSDOT to protect the integrity of the environment and surrounding neighborhoods. Both the Council and the Mayor’s Office need to be actively involved in the project (design, implementation, and construction) to ensure we build a transportation project, they said.

John O’Neil, Montlake Community Club board trustee for transportation, also spoke in regard to the safety and environmental concerns that the long construction period will have on the students at Seattle Prep High School.

The Seattle Design Commission will be presenting recommendations to the City Council at its 9:30 a.m. briefing meeting on July 18th. The public may attend this meeting but is not traditionally permitted to make comments. Therefore the group which attended the recent SDC meeting has sent a list of written concerns that will be used to brief the Council in advance of this meeting. The City Council will then be up to update on the concerns that the surrounding neighborhoods want to address regarding the SR 520 Rest of the West Project’s impact on their communities.

A follow-up article will be posted to the Montlake Flyer with the details after the July 18th meeting.

The open house will focus primarily on the next phase of construction: the West Approach Bridge South (WABS) and Montlake lid and land bridge.

The public meeting will be held:

Date: Tuesday,June 28

Time: 4:30 – 7:00 p.m.

Place: Saint Demetrios Hall in Seattle’s Montlake neighborhood

Address: 2100 Boyer Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98112

At this open house, we will share the following:

Updated design renderings for the Montlake lid, land bridge and West Approach Bridge South

The schedule for the next phase of construction (set to begin by 2018), and how to stay informed

A look ahead to future phases of the Rest of the West

Other topics such as an overview of design-build contracting and environmental enhancements as part of the SR 520 Program

An update on current construction of the West Approach Bridge North (WABN)

The open house will provide an opportunity for members of the public to hear the latest about the SR 520 Program, view updated design renderings of the Montlake area, chat one-on-one with project staff, ask questions, and share feedback.

In addition to the in-person open house, we are also hosting an Online Open House, which will be available Monday, June 20th through July 8. Please visit SR520.participate.online to view design information about the next phase of construction, which includes the Montlake area and WABS, and learn about the future steps for the remaining Rest of the West project elements. This Online Open House will include a summary of the project’s design history, and an overview and details of the design character of the Montlake area and WABS. It will also include an opportunity for visitors to share their feedback.

We hope you can join us for these events! We look forward to continuing to share information with you as we move forward with building a new, safer and more reliable SR 520 corridor in Seattle.

Upcoming Events

Love gardening, plants, trees, flowers or growing food? Can’t pass up a bargain? Then you won’t want to miss the 14th annual GARDEN LOVERS’ BOOK SALE of used books at the Center for Urban Horticulture.[...]